Have you ever wondered how we actually compare dogs with other animals as if they were our default animal species? Well, according to cat rescuer and writer Elle M., “this hurts cats” since “cats are social creatures” too.
It turns out that many assumptions we have about cats and dogs are due to our inability to recognize their social behavior and the meaning behind them. So in order to shed some much-needed light on canine and feline minds, Elle M. has penned an illuminating thread that explains from the bottom up how both dogs and cats are social in their own special way.
“Cats are ignored and neglected because humans refuse to understand them,” they tweeted, so let’s see the whole thread right below.
One Twitter user, Elle M., has penned an illuminating thread on recognizing social behaviors in cats and dogs to debunk the myth that felines aren't social
Image credits: Richard Brutyo
The author explained how dogs shouldn't be held as humanity's default animal just because we often fail to understand that cats are social creatures too
Image credits: ellle_em
Bored Panda reached out to Elle M., the author of this viral thread and cat rescuer to find out more about them and their love for cats. “I used to be terrified of cats; as a kid I found them incomprehensible and pointy. But my husband had grown up with cats and wanted one badly, so I gave him what I thought was an impossible challenge: find a Sphynx (hairless) cat and you can take it home,” Elle M. recounted.
“Well, he did, and thus began my cat re-education,” Elle M. said, referring to their cat Rhea the Sphynx, who made them realize that cats weren’t incomprehensible at all. “They were intelligent and complex and above all social creatures who needed love and attention just as much as dogs.”
Image credits: ellle_em
Image credits: ellle_em
In 2018, Elle M. moved to Spain, where they volunteered to take in a few “foster” cats and a litter of orphaned kittens. In addition to their own 4 cats, Elle took in so many cats that they remembered “oh my God, so many more kittens.”
In Spain, where overpopulation of street cats is a huge problem, Elle M. became “that American who takes in cats” and found themself dedicating their time, money, and energy into helping as many sick, injured, and abandoned cats as possible.
Image credits: ellle_em
Image credits: ellle_em
“The idea that cats are loners is, unfortunately, one deeply entrenched in our cultural understanding. And it is true that cats are not cooperative hunters (well, except for lions) so their social behaviors are different from dogs’ social behaviors. They don’t look at one another as members of a 'pack' and their hierarchies are mutable and complicated,” the author of the thread told Bored Panda.
According to Elle M., since humans kind of see dogs as the “default” animal, the fact that cats have distinctive ways of communicating can be hard for us to understand. “But using the Dog Default to judge cats is unfair; a cat may not be the same as a dog, but they are just as capable of complex interactions and relationships,” they explained.
Image credits: ellle_em
Image credits: ellle_em
Not only are cats deeply connected to one another, they are also capable of working out problems among themselves. “Two of the orphaned kittens I bottle-fed—Litwick and Gastly—were raised together and deeply bonded. When Gastly passed away, her sister Litwick mourned for weeks. She called for her sister, refused to eat and began to over-groom herself due to stress. It took months for her to adjust and her very obvious sense of loss was heartbreaking to watch.”
Elle M. concluded that “watching cats interact has been hilarious, heartbreaking, fascinating, and frustrating, but above all, they’ve shown me that just because they don’t act like dogs doesn’t mean they aren’t complex social animals with complex social needs.”
Image credits: ellle_em
Image credits: ellle_em
Image credits: ellle_em
“This is an interesting topic – maybe because people’s definition of “social” differs so greatly,” Molly DeVoss, a certified feline training and behavior specialist who runs Cat Behavior Solutions agency told Bored Panda. “Some people think a cat being social is acting like a dog; others think it is a cat who requests attention from its owner; others think it’s cats who like strangers.”
The feline behavior specialist confirmed that cats and dogs have evolved differently along social lines. “Dogs have status and rank among their family unit, whereas cats have a solitary evolution; they don’t live in family units. In the wild, one cat will claim a territory and defend it vehemently.”
Moreover, “social interaction between cats is fluid and changes throughout the day; whereas dogs have a family hierarchy and it typically doesn’t change much.”
Elle M. believes that there are real consequences to our misunderstanding of cats
Image credits: ellle_em
Image credits: ellle_em
Turns out, “there have been many scientific studies that show how dogs recognize emotion in people’s faces, understand some of our speech, and know how we feel, but very little research has been done with cats.”
Molly explained that this is because “dogs want to please the family members higher up on the social ladder (always the people and sometimes other canine family members), they will exhibit behaviors that are pleasing to us; these could be obedient behaviors as well as seeking out affection. Cats have no instinct to satisfy other members of the household – as long as their basic needs are met.”
The author concluded that cats have very complex social relationships that should be acknowledged
Image credits: ellle_em
“How a cat is raised during its sensitive development period shapes how confident and social it will become. Many cats who have limited experiences are more fearful of things they haven’t encountered before. Cats are also home-bodies due to their territorial nature, so when a cat isn’t comfortable going on a car ride, or visiting a friend’s home, they often get labeled as ‘unsocial’.”
Another author similarly shared how our misunderstanding of feline social behavior leads to wrong assumption that cats are "mean"
So they debunked some of the most common interpretations of cat behavior, and revealed what they mean instead
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The cat behaviorist assured that cats can be very independent, but they can also appreciate the companionship of a human, or other cat, very much. She continued: “People sometimes generalize cats’ personalities as independent, aloof, and uncaring, but I’ve found that each cat is a unique individual, with different comfort levels.”
Molly added that cats are a different species than dogs, and should be understood that way. “If you know what a cat is instinctively feeling, and respect that, you can form a close social bond with them,” she concluded.
And this is what people had to comment on the subject matter
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